The abstinence from food and drink between sunrise and sunset in the month of 'Alá' (2-20 March). 'It is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must
strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate
the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore,
fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence
from selfish and carnal desires.'7 |